The Next Hurdle for a Healthy Trump? Getting Some Exercise

Mr. Trump will be encouraged to lower the fat and carbohydrate content of his diet, and will be encouraged by his wife, Melania Trump; his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump; and his doctor to get moving.

“He’s more enthusiastic about the diet part than the exercise part,” Dr. Jackson said.

Washington, a city populated by compulsively high achievers, often holds the mantle of the fittest city in the United States. So it is not surprising that the highest office in the land has drawn its fair share of fitness enthusiasts. Presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton ran. President Ronald Reagan lifted weights.

Other presidents were fitness fanatics. President George W. Bush was a frequent 6:45-mile runner who would challenge his Secret Service detail to join the so-called 100-Degree Club — a group of agents who could keep up with him in the heat as he zipped around his 1,600-acre Texas ranch.

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, brought in a trainer from Chicago to tailor exercise programs — the first lady’s signature platform goal was a program called “Let’s Move!” — and Mr. Obama would pester members of his staff to join in.

David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s former senior adviser, said in 2011 that the president had “always been on my butt about this, and as a result, my butt is a little bit smaller.”

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But outside many cart-assisted games of golf, Mr. Trump has declined to latch on to an exercise program. Fitness experts say persuading Mr. Trump to change his lifestyle will be a matter of figuring out what might motivate him to add small amounts of movement to his day, be it a stroll in the Rose Garden or a walk on the golf course.

“People are not inclined to do what they’re told,” Jessica Matthews, a senior health adviser at the American Council on Exercise, said in an interview. “When they come up with their own solutions, you’d be surprised how readily excited and how able they are to make that change and do it long term.”

This might be particularly true for Mr. Trump, a man known to balk when told what to do. Ted Vickey, a former director of the White House Athletic Center, a fitness complex for employees of the executive branch, said in an interview that Mr. Trump’s love of golf — and, perhaps, maybe a wearable fitness tracker like a Fitbit — could be the key to improving his exercise routine.

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“I’d say, ‘Mr. President, we could knock four strokes off your golf game if you exercised for the next three months,’” Mr. Vickey said. “And the Secret Service probably wouldn’t like it, but I’d tell him to walk the golf course rather than ride a golf cart.”

Denise Evans, who worked at the White House Athletic Center during the Reagan, Clinton and George Bush administrations, said that she would recommend that the president limit his Diet Coke habit to one a day, and start small with exercise.

A Pilates instructor, Ms. Evans said that she would recommend the classes to Mr. Trump to strengthen his core — yet another asset when improving a golf game.

“I don’t think it has to be anything crazy,” Ms. Evans said. “We want to keep him around at least for the next seven years. I’m a big Trump fan.”